A growing number of employers are giving a choice of catastrophic health coverage or comprehensive coverage these days. Of course, like everything else, there is good news and bad news about this choice. In general, catastrophic health coverage may not provide adequate health care for the average person. Consider these points before purchasing catastrophic health coverage.

Comprehensive health insurance addresses most of the common areas of health care needs. Doctor visits, tests, emergency care and other common situations are usually covered under comprehensive health care. A deductible per incident usually applies. This can be anywhere from $250 to $1000. With low deductibles and co-pays the average persons costs are lower costs. This enables people to afford medical care.

With Catastrophic Health Insurance , you will have lower monthly premiums, but the deductible will be much higher. It can run from twelve hundred to five thousand dollars. And you will also have to deal with a maximum payout amount. This could be a million to three million dollars. Once you have hit the limit, you will have no more coverage.

So it may seem that the lower premiums of catastrophic coverage health insurance would make it desirable, that is not always the case. Nonetheless, a lot of people buy it because they cannot afford comprehensive care, and they think catastrophic coverage health insurance will be better than no insurance at all. This is a good plan if you are generally healthy and have enough money to pay the deductible, say once a year. So for example, if you needed surgery, and you had $5000 for the deductible, then you would have to pay your $5000 before the insurance company paid anything toward your surgery costs. And remember that catastrophic coverage health insurance does not address routine medical expenses like tests, doctor visits and so on. It only addresses catastrophes.

catastrophic health coverage can be very good in combination with a standard comprehensive health plan. In this case, you can combine the two, using your basic plan to take care of your basic needs. Once you have spent up to the deductible on your catastrophic health coverage , it may kick in. that is a very good thing, because basic, comprehensive plans often do not cover expensive, long-term illnesses.

If you are thinking about catastrophic health coverage as your main coverage, you may want to consider adding a Health Savings Account. This is a savings account that you would establish specifically for medical expenses with your high deductible being considered a medical expense. If you need to use your insurance, you would get your deductible from this account. The nicest thing about it is that this money and its interest are tax free as long as you use them only for medical expenses.

When you use this combination, you will save money touse for medical expenses, and that can be used as your deductible. The money and the interest earned will be tax free and considered a deduction at tax time. By utilizing this smart plan, you will be able to save money on medical expenses in a big way.